Happy Last Day of October!

We made these cute little guys to hand out to the shut -ins we deliver meals to on Thursday during October! Healthy and FUN!

I’m all about ways to maximize my time. Time isn’t something some of us have more of, we just all use it differently.

What I learned having 8 kids in 10 years, is that the time isn’t MINE…. it’s God’s and I better move a pretty good clip to get things done.

Fast forward to my life now… and nothing is new, it always feels like there isn’t enough time.

But there is always enough time to get done what God would have me do. It’s true I can’t do it all, but God doesn’t want me to do it all anyway. So I focus on what NEEDS to be done, and do that.

Wednesday night is our errand night. We restock on groceries and household items, and run around like crazy people. We usually cover 3 grocery stores, the dry cleaners, Target, and anywhere else (like the library). When we return home the kids help dad unload the van, and I start on baths for the littles. We are blessed with more than one bathroom, so showers are started with the older kids at the same time. It still takes at least an hour to get everyone to bed, AND get things put away. (usually longer with the older kids!)

As that is happening I’m working on other things, blend the almond milk for tomorrow, soak the apples from the store, start a chicken in the crock pot for broth and chicken later this week, pop chicken breasts in the oven for tomorrow’s lunch, soak 3 cups of nuts for tomorrow’s banana porridge, and then take the almond meal from the strained milk and bake it with cinnamon to make granola bars… I go on like this… mixed in with cleaning dishes and putting things away for a few hours each night. Some nights I’m on my feet for 2 hours following errand night. On a regular baking night, when we are “home” for the evening, it’s a good five-hour stint between preparing dinner and getting things ready for the next day.

So in my time crunch, I’m also thinking of ways to maximize our food and never be wasteful. Just like using the carrot pulp from my juice for muffins or making sure we eat left overs! One thing I’ve learned to do is use the almond “meal” from my almond milk – and make homemade paleo “Granola” bars! This works out great a few times a week, and provides a seriously yummy snack, that is pack full of SUPER healthy fats, for a lot less!

So if you’re left with almond meal after making milk, and you’re wondering what to do… here’s how it works:

ALMOND MILK “MEAL” PALEO GRANOLA BARS

(This is assuming you’ve made milk with 2 cups of soaked, raw almonds and uses all of that meal for this recipe)
Take the almond meal out of the cheese cloth and spread it on a pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with cinnamon and put it in a 350 degree over for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool.

** Once well mixed, add in the baked almond meal and stir all together.

Line a 9×13 glass pan with parchment, and then press bars into dish. Put in the refrigerator for 1 hour, and then cut. I usually wrap most of them up so they can travel easily, but it would work to stack and store them in a dish. Either way, refrigerate until you eat them! (Your welcome on the parchment paper “lining” this is crazy-slick!)

If you don’t have time to put the bars together following baking the almond meal, just simply lift the sides of the parchment paper, and slide it into a ziplock bag. Store in the fridge until you are ready!

“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die.Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

I don’t know that store bought is course enough. It might be better to use soaked almonds through the processor. Let me know if you try the almond meal “flour”, how it works. I made some “raisin bran granola” some if my meal yesterday and the kids loved it today!